Ireland

Does a government health poster list "heart attacks," "strokes" and "sudden death" as side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine, as shown in an Instagram post? No, that's not true: It is counterfeit. Though it was made to look like official Irish government health circulars, the Irish government never published a poster listing those as side effects. Additionally, there is no…

Did the Irish government deploy military vehicles to stop people expressing public outrage about the stabbings of children and a woman in Dublin? No, that's not true: According to the Irish Defence Forces, an image that showed military vehicles in Dublin posted on X on November 23, 2023, had "no connection" to an attempt by riot police to stop rioting…

Did President Joe Biden "push away" or snub U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak when Biden arrived in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on April 11, 2023? No, that's not true: The video in this post has been digitally edited. It was shortened to seem as if Biden did not recognize Sunak and instead mistook a British military member in uniform as the…

Did a tourist in Northern Ireland record a giant's "door" opening in the mountainside at Giant's Causeway? No, that's not true: This was part of a promotional video made by An Taisce - The National Trust for Ireland, a nongovernmental charity that works to conserve Ireland's national environment and maintain Irish landmarks. An Taisce, translated from Irish (Gaeilge) to English…

Does this video show an Irish dance group celebrating the death of Queen Elizabeth by dancing to "Another One Bites The Dust" outside Buckingham Palace? No, that's not true: The video was posted more than seven months before her death and appears to have been an homage to the queen, who was alive and well at the time. The group,…

Did the term "hungover" originate from a practice of allowing drunks to drape their bodies across a rope overnight for the price of a penny in Victorian England? No, that's not entirely true: The term hungover -- and its noun form, hangover -- did not come from the practice of sleeping over a rope, but there is record of some…

Was an Irish midget accused of soliciting sex from women by posing as a leprechaun and promising a pot of gold? No, that's not true: This is, while possibly funny to some, a piece of satire that has been presented as real news and is being widely shared on the internet. The claim originated from an article published by World…

Did Pope Francis cut his visit to Ireland short in order to investigate some financial irregularities of a small island parish? No, that's not true: a satirical website made up the story using details from the fictional television show "Father Ted". It is not real. The story originated from an article published by the Southend News Network on August 25,…

Was 31-year-old James Francis Alexander found dead in a hotel room in Dublin, Ireland and did this man claim he was the "real" Prince Harry? No, that's not true: the entire thing was made up in 2016 by a site that habitually invents stories about weird crimes and bizarre sex acts for entertainment purposes. It was not real. Despite this…